Peddling Software to the Mac Crowd

MyDreamApp, MacHeist, MacZOT!, MacAppADay – these are all recent or current marketing plans that have originated in the world of Macintosh software. With the exception of MacZOT! (which follows something of a Woot plan of attack, offering one smokin deal a day) these ideas are all pretty unique.

MDA and MH have drawn their Mac customers in with interesting games and contests. Making the potential buyers feel like they’re a part of the product, and they begin to have a vested interest in the app. Very ingenious way of creating marketing hype.

There’s the recent MacAppADay which is offering a limited number of free licenses for a selected app on each day of this month. 5000 licenses to be exact. All I can figure with this plan of attack is that the blogging and discussion that surrounds each day’s freebie creates enough interest that the consumers who were turned-away (over the 5000) – along with the rest of the mac-using world – try out these apps that they may not have looked at otherwise.
Then of course when you attempt the download of MacAppADay, you’re redirected to MacZOT! which seems to make the biggest point here… The nepotism – so to speak – that seems to be involved in these marketing circles appears to be at every turn. The same developers of several apps will all have their wares show up in similar venues. Each Mac outlet is hyping the others’ stuff and vis versa. Everything has a feeling of being intermingled – as if there’s a single puppet-master behind the curtain. (Yes, I know Philip Ryu is the mastermind behind MDA and MH – Brian Ball is the MacZOT! man, perhaps he’s also behind MacAppADay?)

Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to mention how Mr Jobs must’ve lent out his Reality Distortion Field to the madebysofa.com team, with the way they chummed the waters before releasing Disco. That was pure insanity the way they had people practically begging to give them their money. (On a personal note, I grabbed Disco for $15 and quite like it…along with the Kool-aid. Yummm…)

Now none of this observation is meant in a negative light. I love the ideas that have been popping up. I think MyDreamApp was a lot of fun and I look forward to the final products (as well as the runners-up who seem to be grabbing their own developers). MacHeist is an absolute BLAST and the freebies have been good to boot. MacZOT! has hooked me up with a handful of choice apps that I’d previously balked at plunking down cash for. Not to mention that they’re a great outlet for new apps to gain exposure. And MacAppADay is handing out freebies that I may not have tried otherwise. It’s all gravy to me, and I seriously appreciate the ingenuity that is driving this community as of late.